April 4 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks advanced, rebounding
from yesterday’s drop, as central banks in Japan and Europe
reassured investors that they will keep economies awash in cash
to bolster growth. Commodities slid for a fifth day and the yen
weakened the most since October 2011.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.4 percent at 4 p.m.
in New York, rebounding from yesterday’s 1.1 percent retreat
from a record. The S&P GSCI Index of 24 commodities lost 1
percent and has tumbled about 3.9 percent in five days. Ten-year
Treasury yields fell five basis points to 1.76 percent, the
lowest since Jan. 2. Japan’s currency depreciated 3.3 percent to
96.25 yen per dollar while Korea’s won slid to a six-month low.
The euro reversed early losses to rally 0.7 percent to $1.2934.

The Bank of Japan said it will buy longer-term government
bonds as part of its asset-purchase program while European
Central Bank President Mario Draghi said policy will remain
accommodative after keeping the benchmark rate at 0.75 percent.
U.S. data showed jobless claims increased last week, a day
before the monthly payrolls report.

“Expectations were high for the Bank of Japan and they
managed to exceed expectations,” Janelle Nelson, a Minneapolis-based portfolio analyst with RBC Wealth Management’s portfolio
advisory group, said in a phone interview. Her firm manages
about $315 billion in client assets. “The big issue for
investors will be what the U.S. employment report shows
tomorrow.”

The government report tomorrow is forecast to show a gain
of 190,000 jobs in U.S. payrolls last month, following a 236,000
advance in February, according to economists surveyed by
Bloomberg. The jobless rate probably stayed at 7.7 percent.

Jobless Claims

Jobless claims rose by 28,000 to 385,000 last week, the
highest since Nov. 24, Labor Department figures showed in a
report that reflected the difficulty in adjusting the figures
around the Easter holiday and spring break at schools. The
median forecast of 47 economists in a survey called for a drop
to 353,000.

The S&P GSCI Index extended yesterday’s 2 percent slump and
closed at the lowest level since December as 15 of its 24
commodities retreated. Gold for immediate delivery declined as
much as 1.1 percent to $1,540.27 an ounce, the lowest in 10
months, before recovering. West Texas Intermediate oil dropped
1.1 percent to $93.54 a barrel and is down 3.9 percent in the
past two sessions.

Among U.S. stocks moving today, McDonald’s Corp., AT&T Inc.
and Hewlett-Packard Co. rose at least 1.3 percent to lead gains
in the Dow Jones Industrial Average while International Business
Machines Corp., Alcoa Inc. and Exxon Mobil Corp. fell the most.
Brinker International Inc. gained 2.1 percent after Raymond
James Financial Inc. raised its rating on the owner of the
Chili’s and Maggiano’s restaurant chains.

Best Buy

Best Buy Co. jumped 16 percent, the most since January,
after Samsung Electronics Co. said it will staff mini-stores at
Best Buy’s U.S. locations to showcase how its tablets,
smartphones and televisions work together. Facebook Inc. added
3.1 percent, extending yesterday’s 3.3 percent rally, after
introducing smartphone software that puts social-networking
features front and center on a handset.

Four shares declined for every one that gained in the Stoxx
600. Banca Generali SpA lost 5.1 percent after Assicurazioni
Generali SpA sold part of its stake in the lender. European
Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co. dropped 2.7 percent as an
investor offered to sell shares worth 384 million euros ($492
million) in the owner of Airbus SAS. BTG Plc gained 1 percent
after increasing its sales forecast for 2013.

Portugal’s Banks

Draghi said the ECB stands ready to cut interest rates if
the economy deteriorates further, and officials are considering
additional measures to boost growth as the debt crisis enters
its fourth year.

“Our monetary policy stance will remain accommodative for
as long as needed,” Draghi said at a press conference in
Frankfurt today. “We will assess all the incoming data in the
coming weeks and we stand ready to act.”

With doubts growing about Draghi’s forecast for an economic
recovery later this year, the ECB is looking at a range of
measures including lower rates, more long-term loans to banks
and a program to encourage lending to small- and medium-sized
companies, three officials with knowledge of the deliberations
said this week. The ECB president said today that officials are
“looking at various instruments,” though he stopped short of
saying what they would be.

Spanish Yields

Hungary’s benchmark equity gauge climbed 0.8 percent as the
country’s central bank new chief, Gyorgy Matolcsy, said he will
use foreign-currency reserves as part of a 500 billion-forint
($2.1 billion) program to boost lending and support the economy.
The forint strengthened 0.7 percent against the euro.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index fell 0.8 percent to a two-week low as Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. sank more
than 3 percent after recalling vehicles for electronic defects.
Benchmark gauges in India, Indonesia and South Korea lost more
than 1 percent.

The yen slid more than 2 percent against all of its 16
major peers, dropping the most versus the dollar since Oct. 31,
2011, when the government ordered an intervention in foreign-exchange markets to weaken the currency. It tumbled 4 percent
against the euro.

Japan Easing

BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda began his campaign to end 15
years of deflation with a strengthened stimulus program that
will see the central bank buy 7 trillion yen ($74 billion) of
bonds a month, exceeding the median 5.2 trillion yen predicted
by economists in a Bloomberg News survey.

The Topix index of stocks rose 2.7 percent, erasing an
early 2 percent decline, with trading volume 32 percent more
than the 30-day average.

Japan’s central bank has taken “quite an aggressive
move,” said Nader Naeimi, the Sydney-based head of dynamic
asset allocation at AMP Capital Investors Ltd., which manages
$126 billion. “It shows the Bank of Japan is more serious than
they’ve ever been. They are already quite close to doing open-ended quantitative easing anyway and they are likely to announce
that later in the month.”